Douglas Boin

Author of

Coming Out Christian in the Roman WorldBloomsbury Press

Douglas Boin Ph.D is an expert on the religious history of the Roman Empire, particularly as it pertains to the “pagan,” Christian and Jewish world of the ancient Mediterranean. His first book, Ostia in Late Antiquity (Cambridge University Press, 2013) examined the rhythms of daily life and religious change that characterized life in the old harbor town of Rome at the “end of the empire,” a period that witnessed the rise of the more visible Christianity. Ostia in Late Antiquity was the product of ten years of research on-site, during which he also helped an international team of archaeologist and historians study the remains of the city’s ancient synagogue and Jewish community.

A native of Chicago, he received a B.A. from Georgetown University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. He is an Assistant Professor of Ancient and Late Antique Mediterranean History at Saint Louis University and has worked extensively as an archaeologist in Rome. From 2010-2013, he taught in the Department of Classics at Georgetown University. His scholarship has appeared in The Journal of Roman Studies, The American Journal of Archaeology, and The Papers of the British School at Rome, and he has authored entries on “synagogues” and “church buildings” for the multi-volume reference work, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome. He speaks regularly on aspects of Roman history, archaeology, and religion at national and international conference.

Follow Douglas

Books by
Douglas

Coming Out Christian in the Roman World

Coming Out Christian in the Roman World, forthcoming from Bloomsbury Press, will bring his perspective on how Christians “triumphed” in ancient Rome to a wider audience. It will draw attention to the range of social strategies by which the movement gained acceptance in Rome, as well as treat the fractious social wrangling (“How much should Christians accommodate to the culture of their day?”) which has been an inner feature of the movement from its start.